The
John Seymour School for Self Sufficiency

Season's
over in the Christon Bank garden - it's now time to
start getting ready for 2015. The garden has been
rotavated and weeded. Compost has been spread, new trees
planted and soft fruits pruned. Work continues on
the green house.

2
Courses now fixed for the summer season
Course 1 is 6 - 13 June, Course 2 is 14 - 20 June. Prices
remain as last year and you can make a booking by clicking this
link. Course Booking
for 2015

Here is the "winter garden" as we harvest and rotavate before the
winter. You can also see how much the young
artichokes have grown since spring!

The greenhouse takes shapeBuilding work now continues on the greenhouse for next
season. The concrete slab has now been laid to serve as
the floor in the eastern end. This will be used for teaching and
storage. The main brickwork is now complete - the
young vine has done well this year and should produce its first crop next
summer.

Courses in 2015 - All our scheduled course have now finished
for the time being. Please keep an eye on the
website for dates for next year.

In 2015 our courses moved to the beautiful
coast of north Northumberland where we have begun the renovation of a
fine old Victorian kitchen garden at Christon Bank.
The renovation work provides an unusual opportunity for our students to
be involved in the development of the garden infrastructure and
planning. It's many years since the garden was
in full use but the site is lucky enough to have a massively high brick
wall along its east and north sides. The wall was
built from the dutch bricks which were used as ballast by coal ships
from Newcastle in the nineteenth century.

The Christon Bank farmhouse has been lovingly restored by the Gilbert
family and now includes a pond and wildflower meadow.

The kitchen garden lies on the north side (to the left of the picture).
The soil is a heavy well drained loam with few nasty
weeds - no creeping buttercup or couch, just a few nettles.
The biggest challenge was digging out a few very old tree stumps whose
roots have gone under the walls. You can see the massive
(recently re-pointed) south facing wall which will give the garden such
a beneficial micro-climate.

This is the garden at the end of August. The runner beans
are poised to deliver! So far we have harvested:
Potatoes, onions, lettuce, radish, rocket, beetroot, dill, spinach,
shallots, peas, carrots, herbs, parsnips. Damage
so far has come from the teeth of mice or rabbits! White
butterfly catterpillars are raiding the sprouting broccoli but few
escape my daily patrols - only another few weeks now before their season
comes to an end and the battle against the winter pigeons
begins!

The School

Will Sutherland has run self-sufficiency courses for almost 20 years,
teaching the methods and philosophy developed by John Seymour.
Will worked for over 10 years with John Seymour in Ireland and,
with John, created the New Complete Book of Self Sufficiency published
by Dorling Kindersley. In 2010 we took our courses to the wine
growing region near Bordeaux where the warm weather, swimming pool and
excellent local wine made a nice change from the cooler climes of
Ireland. Now we are moving back to cooler climes to take up
the challenge of re-creating a classic old kitchen garden.

“Thank you so much: we really enjoyed
the course and found it VERY interesting and helpful. And what a
beautiful place in which to do it”

“Thank you for a wonderful holiday. The
food has been amazing and we have really enjoyed the Class. You have a
beautiful place here.”

Such great people. Such strong spirits.
Great to know you guys!'

“The training and experience at St Leger
was the best birthday present I could have had. Your book and your
work have opened up for us a better way to enjoy life in harmony with
the land and nature.”

Lots of Good Food - The students who came last year
were mightily impressed with the St Leger meals they enjoyed and
suggested we put the week's menu up on the
website. Good food and good conversation
are important features for all those looking for a more self-sufficient
and satisfying style of life!